The Earth Liberation Army
by Rinkufan
Summary: Many hundreds of years from now, the world is a different place. Six people made many sacrifices for the existence of this world, and one all-powerful being wants to make sure they are remembered


Disclaimer: If I owned Animorphs, I would. . . . well never mind what I would do. The point is that I don't own them. The only things I own in this story are my characters, and a few of the gadgets, treaties, etc.  
  
AN: This takes place a few hundred years after #54, "The Beginning". Its about the year 2572. I hope you enjoy it! Please R&R!! I can't live solely on cookies alone. Reviews help nourish my spirit. YAY!  
  
"The Earth Liberation Army"  
  
My name is Andrew. Just Andrew. I'm not gonna tell you my last name. You could be a stalker or something, and that would be bad for me, now wouldn't it? I'm writing this to tell you about something that happened to me and a couple of my friends a few days ago. It was really freaky, and I'm not expecting you to believe me, but I just had to write it down, let other people know, even if they will call me crazy. Sacrifices were made for their sake, and they need to know. Need to know what has been done for them. What has been lost for their freedom. Our freedom.  
Yeah, I know, the guy's nutso. There's never been a threat to our freedom, we have always been like we are now, blah, blah, blah. Well, guess what? That's wrong. There was a danger once, large enough to enslave all of humanity, and many aliens besides. Instead of telling you, however, maybe I should show you. Show you what we saw . . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"3 Days Earlier" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"  
"Class, pay attention!" Ms. Cardenas, a frazzled looking teacher with weary brown eyes and short, dark hair, was standing in front of her Universal History class, struggling to maintain what little control she had over the rowdy bunch. The noisiest group was, of course, the humans, seeing as they were one of the only species in the class that could not communicate with thought-speak. The other was the Hork-Bajir, who didn't talk much except to ask questions, or in some cases, answer them. The humans and Hork-Bajir took up about half the room, with the rest left for the Andalite and Seiwho students. History was the only class taken by all four at the same time, with each species excelling primarily in one area or another.  
A couple hundred years ago, this would have been an amazing sight, for back then, the only dominant species on Earth were the humans. Now, thanks to the Inter-Species treaty developed 63 years ago, the Hork-Bajir, (extremely tall bark-eaters with blades at the elbows, wrists, and knees, and a nasty tail) Andalites, (beings that looked like a cross between a horse and a centaur, with two main eyes, two stalk eyes at the top of their heads, blue/tan fur, and a tail, with a very deadly blade at the end, almost like a scythe) the Seiwho, (a crablike species, with six legs on each side of their bodies and a human torso exactly in the middle)and of course, the humans, are now able to have adolescents in a classroom together, learning. Glancing around the classroom, one would see the normal setup for a middle-school class in this period of time. On the front wall, holograms were projected of people who, according to Ms. Cardenas, had a major impact on society. These changed often, depending on what was being taught that day. At the moment, there were four people, one human, one Andalite, one Seiwho, and one Hork-Bajir. These were the creators of the aforementioned Inter-Species treaty, which they were just finishing up a unit on. It was, I thought, a good subject for a convention on boring topics. No offense intended to the initiators of the treaty, of course, but really! No battles, no fights, what was so interesting about it? All they did was do a bunch of talking, and debate. That's why history was so boring. No courageous deeds done in the middle of a battle to overthrow an evil villain, no knight in shining armor killing a dragon. Nope, none of that. Just a bunch of talking. Yay.  
The bell rang and amidst the rustle of books and bags, Ms. Cardenas called out,  
"Your homework tonight is to read pages 120-140 in your textbooks. Tomorrow we will be beginning a new unit on the Earth Liberation Army. Please come prepared," I groaned and became part of the stampede running out of the classroom. Last class of the day, and she had to give homework. It figured. Now I'd have to do my algebra and this.  
~Hey~ A voice called. I turned around. It was Leharen-Sekkal- Tomique, or as I called him, Lee. He and I were good friends, even though, as most Andalites are, he was a bit arrogant. (Well, ok, a lot more than a bit . . . ) Lee came up beside me, and we continued our walk to the hover- buses, buses that, well, hovered.  
"Hey. So, do you have any idea what in the universe the Earth Liberation Army is?"  
~No. I can't say that I have any inclination as to what Ms. Cardenas was talking about.~  
"Bet it involves peace talks . . . " I saw Lee's stalk eyes turn toward me, apparently confused. He hesitated before speaking again.  
  
~Would you rather it be solved by war? With blood and battles, and people dying?~  
I winced. "No, that's not it . . . I would just rather study about how people won a fight, than how they won a debate. At least with a fight, there's tactics, and strategies, and stuff. With peace talks, you talk. Very boring to study about,"  
Lee laughed. ~Yes, I believe I can agree with you on that one.~ At that point, I was sure of myself. Talk equals Boring. Battle equals Cool. By the next morning, I had an entirely different opinion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
That Evening ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
I rode the hover-bus home with Lee, and my girlfriend, Brenna. We agreed to meet at the nearby Trading Post later that evening. Parent Appreciation Day was coming up, and we all need to buy gifts. Brenna said she was going to call up her best friend, Abby, and see if she was able to come. Abby and Brenna are just about total opposites. Where Brenna is calm, Abby is explosive. Where Abby excels, Brenna struggles, and vice versa. Very odd, I know. But hey, opposites attract, right?  
Anyway, I made it back home to a gray, 3-story building with no windows, just like the rest in the neighborhood. The only way to tell the difference is to read the serial number on the side. Very annoying, especially when you're not paying attention. I accidentally went into my neighbor Cattie's house once. Let's just say I was really surprised to find myself in a 5-year-old girl's room instead of my own.  
Walking into my house, I slowed as I walked past the Gleet-BioFilter. Programmed or not, that thing still gives me the creeps. At the moment, it lets humans, Andalites, Hork-Bajir, and Seiwho in. The cleaning service comes by every hour or so to clean up all the dead bugs, lizards, rodents, etc. I feel sorry for those droids . . .  
I threw my bag on the counter and grabbed a snack from the fridge, glancing at a piece of paper on it as the door closed.  
  
Andrew, we're going to dinner together. Eat something healthy for supper. We'll be back late. Love, Mom and Dad  
  
Perfect. I could go and they would never know I'd been gone. I started on my homework around 4:30. I normally wouldn't have begun it yet, but since I was going to the Trading Post later, I wouldn't have time to do it then. Of course, it would be on variables. I hate variables. Stupid letters.  
I finished my algebra and glanced at the clock. 5:23. I'd agreed to meet Brenna and Lee at 5:30. I could always do the reading later. It was only twenty pages, and it was on that Earth army thing. I probably didn't even have to read it. All these old "battles" were so predictable. A few arguments here and there, a compromise, and then a fancy title to make it sound cool. They were all the same.  
I wrote a quick note to my mom and dad and put it on the fridge, just in case they got home before I did. Not likely, but hey, best not to take chances. Grabbing a Flaneer from a stack by the door, I headed out. Can you believe that hundreds of years ago, people actually rode on boards with wheels? I mean, come on! Wheels?!?! How pathetic is that?  
I activated the Flaneer, letting it come up about six inches above the ground before I jumped on. The safety restraints snapped on over my feet and I took off. Flaneers are large silver disks that are controlled by thoughts. You think forward, you go forward. Very simple.  
I reached the Trading Post about five minutes later. Lee and Brenna were waiting along with Abby and her boyfriend, Kyle. I nodded coolly to him. Kyle and I were ok friends. Not the best, but better than some. We had known each other since Primary school, but we'd never actually sat down at the same lunch table together or anything like that. He hung out with his friends, and I hung out with mine. That's how it had always been. Kyle nodded back to me, and we went inside.  
The Trading Post is like what was called a mall a long time ago. It's got a bunch of different shops to visit and restaurants to eat at, etc. The reason it is called the Trading Post now is because of all the different aliens stores that are now a part of every Trading Post on the planet. You have human clothing stores and jewelry stores and such, but you also have stores with tree-house decorations for the Hork-Bajir, and places for Andalites to buy hoof-polishing cream. There are even restaurants that grow forests inside now, so if any Hork-Bajir are shopping and they get hungry, they can just have a sort of buffet-type meal. All the bark you could ever want. If you happen to be a Hork-Bajir, that is.  
We were all kind of stumped as to what to get first. Should we start with the dads' gifts, or the moms'? The electronics equipment, or the perfume and bangles? I glanced over at the others.  
"Well, what do you guys think? Where to first?" Kyle gave a kind of nonchalant shrug. The others gave mutters of assent, agreeing with him. I rolled my eyes. "Ok, how about we go for the moms first, and Brenna and Abby can assist with the er. . .selection. . . of gifts,"  
Lee gave me one of those Andalite smiles, the kind they do with their main eyes. ~Andrew, are you referring to the time that you bought your mother that hat with the odd-looking birds on it?~ I felt blood rise to my face, the tips of my ears turning bright red.  
"They were ducks Lee. And I was nine."  
~ If I remember correctly, Andrew, you were twelve.~ That's the problem with having best friends you've known forever. They know everything about you.  
"Well it was still a long time ago," I replied defensively.  
Brenna giggled. "You're only thirteen, silly."  
I glared at her. "Anyway, what do you guys think? Should we do it like that?" Again there was a collection of shrugs and mutters, and I gestured for the girls to lead the way.  
Half an hour later, we were walking out of some store or another, laden with packages. The girls had decided that each gift we bought needed to have accessories to go with it, then of course the accessories needed accessories as well, and then. . .well, you know the rest. I barely had enough money left for the tool-kit I bought my dad.  
Staggering under the weight of both mine and Brenna's packages, I happened to glance up in time to see a blur moving toward me before I found myself flat on my back, stars spinning in front of my eyes. I blinked dazedly, trying to get my bearings back. A concerned face filled my view, and it took me a minute to realize that it belonged to Brenna. Above her, I could see Lee, his main eyes focused on me, his stalk eyes on something that I couldn't see from my position on the ground.  
"Are you ok, Andrew?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine," I struggled back to my feet, amazed that all of the packages seemed to be in one piece. "What hit me?" Kyle gestured towards the ground at my feet.  
"He did." I glanced down. Sitting on the ground there was a rather dazed looking kid who seemed about my age. He looked up at me with a weak grin, dark hair falling into his eyes.  
"You make a very good wall, anyone ever tell you that?"  
"Not in particular, no. Aren't you that kid who got into a fight with Stan and Link last period yesterday?"  
The kid grimaced. "Yeah. But I didn't get into a fight with them, they were just harassing me. Teacher saw us and figured we were up to no good, you know?"  
"Yeah. So what gave you the bright idea to test to see if I would make a good wall? And what's your name?"  
The kid flushed. "Name's Carlo. I was just . . .taking a stroll, that's all. Decided I wanted to run a bit. Nothing wrong with that is there?" I shrugged. It sounded reasonable enough. Abby and Brenna glanced at each other and rolled their eyes. Abby reached down and yanked Carlo up from the ground. He stumbled back to his feet, glancing around nervously. Abby eyed him with a frown.  
"And of course you weren't running because Stan and Link and their gang were after you, right?" I glanced up. Sure enough, Stan and Link along with their gang, whom we had dubbed Idiots Anonymous (IA), were lounging around the feeding area, their eyes on us. The kid, Carlo, turned even redder, if that was possible. Brenna looked at him, then at the IA, and frowned. She turned back to Carlo.  
"Well, now that you're here, you can help Andrew carry his bags."  
I bristled at that. "Brenna, I don't need any-"  
She continued on, ignoring me. "Since you literally knocked him over, I think that's fair enough, don't you?" Carlo glanced at me, at her, then back at me again. I frowned glaring at Brenna. She glared back, and I winced.  
"All right, all right. Take your pick." I held my arms out, which had been adorned with packages of all sizes. To tell the truth, they had been practically cutting my circulation off. I had figured that in about a half-hour or so, my arms were gonna fall off, but I wasn't gonna say anything about that. Carlo glanced up at me again, then shrugged, and grabbed a couple off my arm.  
So it was that the six of us walked out of the south entrance to the Trading Post. It was now late at night, and I had no desire to go flaneering in the dark. There was a hover-bus stop just outside, and it would be much faster anyway. Unfortunately, fate had other plans.  
We came up on the stop just as an ancient looking Hork-Bajir was hanging a sign in the window. I glanced at it, then groaned.  
This station has been closed temporarily  
due to damage of the street sector 37b caused by  
recent weather problems. Please go to another station.  
"Well, that's nice,"Carlo muttered. He turned to the Hork-Bajir, who was cleaning up some leftover trash in the station. "Hey mister!"  
The elderly guy looked up. "My name Jafat."  
"Ok, well, Mr. Jafat, would you mind telling us where the closest usable station is?"  
The Hork-Bajir, Jafat, looked up again at Carlo's question. "Nearest station on sector 53c. Go that way,"He pointed off to the left. "Come to construction site. Go around. Station there." I frowned at that.  
"Why do we have to go around the construction site? Wouldn't it be quicker just to go through it?"  
Jafat shook his head. "Place of historical value. Beginning of ancient war there. No go through."  
Carlo sighed. "Whatever you say mister . . ." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Like it? Hate it? Review! This should be a 2 to 3 chapter fic. Be on the lookout for our favorite "non-interfering" being next chapter. 


End file.
